


A Corner Shop Christmas

by Wildflame



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Fluff, Humor, M/M, R/S Small Gifts 2018, a sprinkling of everything, corner-shop au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 20:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16920144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildflame/pseuds/Wildflame
Summary: Sirius finds himself Christmas puddingless on Christmas Eve, so off he goes to the corner shop to avert this disaster.





	A Corner Shop Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liseuse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liseuse/gifts).



> This fic was written for the 2018 RS Small Gifts exchange and originally posted [here](https://small-gifts.dreamwidth.org/252751.html).
> 
> Many thanks to my amazing beta [snakeowls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakeowls) \- their magic touch has made this fic a million times better.
> 
> Happy reading!

Your first Christmas alone is always weird.  
  
James had offered to have Sirius for the holidays as usual, but Sirius had declined. James’s parents weren’t well, and dragonpox at their age could be fatal. Sirius knew that that James silently feared this might be his last Christmas with his parents, and Sirius didn’t want to intrude. He wanted them to spend it together as a family.  
  
Besides, Sirius had thought there was an element of excitement in spending Christmas alone. Two weeks ago, he’d bought a small plastic tree from the big Muggle shop in the town centre for his flat and it now sat proudly in front of the boarded-up fireplace, shiny new baubles gleaming from the branches. He’d also purchased copious amounts of gold and red tinsel (once a Gryffindor, always a Gryffindor) and hung it off most surfaces in the room. James said it looked like a child had decorated his living room, but it reminded Sirius of Gryffindor tower and made it feel more like home.  
  
Despite his previous enthusiasm, Sirius found himself standing in his kitchen on Christmas Eve, only now starting to think about what he was actually going to do tomorrow. On the kitchen counter he had set out a bottle of firewhiskey next to his favourite mug ready to spice up the hot chocolate he was going to have with breakfast. He had white wine chilling in the fridge to have with his Christmas dinner, and brandy to set his Christmas pudding alight. He even had a bottle of sparkling white wine ready to toast the Queen’s speech (Champagne was far too unpatriotic, and not so kind on his wallet).   
  
The problem was that he didn’t have any breakfast to have with his firewhiskey, nor any Christmas dinner to have with his wine, nor any Christmas pudding for his brandy.  
  
This is why Sirius found himself at his local corner shop late on Christmas Eve staring at the last two loaves of bread, trying to decide which looked the least stale. He chose the one on the right as he thought it felt slightly softer and added it to his basket next to a sad looking tin of spam.  _What a feast this is turning out to be,_  Sirius thought to himself grimly as he took a step back to continue shopping and bumped into someone trying to get past him in the aisle.  
  
“Oh shit, sorry,” Sirius apologised, stopping abruptly as he caught sight of who he had bumped into. It was a young man, about the same age as Sirius, dressed in a shabby looking coat. He was not the sort of attractive that would normally turn heads, or stop people mid sentence- but there was something about him that made Sirius feel things in the pit of his stomach. Not that that was hard of course, at nineteen, teenage hormones still ran amok through Sirius’s veins. James had once joked that Sirius was so horny he would fuck his own owl if he could.  
  
“No problem,” mumbled the stranger who didn’t look up from the cereal boxes he was examining to Sirius’s left.  
  
Sirius was about to walk away but curiosity got the better of him:  _what did sexy men in corner shops buy at this time on the night before Christmas?_  Trying to be subtle Sirius had a quick peek at the other man’s basket as he walked past. A bag of semi-fresh doughnuts caught his eye. “Yes, brilliant!” he exclaimed.  
  
“Excuse me?” asked the man looking up perplexed.  
  
“Sorry, the doughnuts,” Sirius said gesturing towards the basket, as if that explained everything.  
  
“They are my doughnuts,” said the man slowly, taking a step back and pulling the basket closer to his chest. He was clearly prepared to protect his doughnuts at all cost.  
  
“Yes, yes,” said Sirius impatiently. “But I don’t have a Christmas pudding you see. And of course this fucking useless shop doesn’t have any! It’s Christmas Eve! What sort of establishment runs out of Christmas pudding on Christmas Eve? But I could buy some doughnuts, you see, and set those on fire instead.”  
  
“Oh,” said the man, no less confused but somewhat more amused. “Well, yes, I suppose you could.”  
  
“Brilliant,” said Sirius again. “Thank you,” he added earnestly. “I’m Sirius by the way.” He extended his hand.  
  
“Remus,” replied the other man taking Sirius’s hand, a crooked smile playing on his lips. Sirius realised this would probably end up being a funny story Remus would tell his friends and family around the dinner table tomorrow. Sirius didn’t mind being laughed at, he was quite used to being the butt of one of James’s jokes. But he did suddenly feel quite alone.  
  
Sirius turned towards the counter where the fresh cakes were sold hoping the other man wouldn’t notice his sudden change in mood “Merry Christmas,” he called back towards Remus trying to sound cheerful.  
  
“Merry Christmas,” mumbled Remus, turning back towards his cereal options.  
  
  


* * *

  
Your second Christmas alone, is quite frankly a bit shit.  
  
After finding that spending Christmas alone was rather lonely and lacking in Christmas pudding the year before, Sirius had hoped that this year he might resume the tradition of spending Christmas at the Potters’. Nevertheless, James, who was recently married, had booked himself and Lily a honeymoon in the south of France over the Christmas period after finding an excellent deal. James had not realised until he had excitedly told Sirius about the surprise he was planning for Lily that this would mean Sirius would have to spend another Christmas alone. Sirius had swallowed his disappointment and wished his friends a great holiday. It was too late to change anything now anyway.  
  
That was why, on Christmas Eve, Sirius found himself once again at the corner shop. He would have to watch himself or this might end up being some kind of new tradition.  
  
“Forgot to buy your Christmas dinner again?” said a jovial voice behind him as he paid for his shopping.  
  
“Yup,” said Sirius grumpily waving the whiskey and cigarettes he had just bought. “So have you, I gather?” he added, recognising the man behind him in the queue as Remus. They had bumped into each other at the shop a couple of times since last Christmas Eve.  
  
“Aye,” said Remus as he hoisted his basket on to the counter. “Sausages, crisps and a bag of raisins…” he said unenthusiastically. “Not quite the feast you have lined up.”  
  
“Not much tops it,” Sirius agreed. The conversation seemed to have come to an end, but Sirius stood awkwardly at the same spot not ready to return to gloom of his empty flat. Sirius watched as the man behind the counter slowly entered the prices of Remus’s items into the till. The process seem to take an age.   
  
Carefully timing his next moves, Sirius reached the door in time to hold it open for Remus, “Bloody cold outside, isn’t it?”  
  
“Freezing,” agreed Remus who clutched his old coat closed against the wind. The door closed behind him faintly ringing the bell inside.  
  
“Cigarette?” Sirius offered. He stood a few feet away under the light of the lamppost.  
  
“Thanks,” said Remus as he took one. They both lit them in silence  
  
“We need one of your burning doughnuts to keep us warm,” Remus chuckled remembering the year before. Sirius laughed too.   
  
“That was such a fucking disaster,” he said. “The whole thing just caught fire.”  
  
“Waste of a good doughnut,” Remus commented sympathetically.   
  
The conversation seemed to wane. Sirius watched Remus as he inhaled deeply from his cigarette. The light from the lamppost cast deep shadows on one side of his face and gave the other a glowing, otherworldly look. A strand of loose hair danced in the wind, and Sirius had to fight the urge to tuck it behind his ear.   
  
“Have you got any plans for Christmas?” asked Sirius, willing the conversation back to life.   
  
“Not really, no,” said Remus shrugged. “You?”  
  
“No not really,” said Sirius. “I guess I still have Christmas decorations to put up.”  
  
Remus smiled sadly. “I stopped bothering with those long ago,” He said. “Well, I’d better not keep you,” he added although he did not make a move to leave.   
  
“See you next Christmas Eve, I suppose” Sirius said, a half-hearted attempt at a joke.   
  
“Yes, I suppose so.” Remus laughed hollowly as he finally began to walk down the road.  
  
“Hey, Remus,” Sirius called after him, wondering if he was brave enough to ask a stranger back to his flat. Remus turned around looking expectantly. The cold suddenly took hold of Sirius as he thought of Marlene Mckinnon and her family, murdered in their own home. These were dangerous times to be bringing strangers home. Sirius, didn’t even trust some of his friends. “Merry Christmas,” he said finally.  
  
“Merry Christmas,” Remus waved back.  
  
  


* * *

  
Your third Christmas alone…. Well, this year Sirius was determined not to find out what it was like to spend a third Christmas alone.  
  
It was Christmas Eve already and Sirius found himself in the corner shop once again. This time he stood nervously by the wine shelf pretending to analyse the bottles as if he knew something about wine, but his eyes kept wandering to the door expectantly. Any moment now Remus would arrive, they would share some light-hearted banter and then Sirius would ask him if he’d like to accompany him to Christmas dinner at James and Lily’s place.   
  
Sirius was nervous about this for a number of reasons. First, there was that feeling in his gut that this was a bad idea, that Remus was not trustworthy. But Sirius felt like this most days: he felt it about the little old lady downstairs and the cat that sat on the fence next door. Besides, he’d had enough close scrapes in the last few years to know that sometimes you just have to say  _fuck it_.   
  
Sirius was also nervous because Remus might say no.   
  
_So what if he says no,_  James had said.  _Maybe he is busy, maybe he doesn’t want to meet a bunch of strangers. It doesn’t mean anything, Sirius. He says no, all it means is he misses out on the best Christmas dinner in the country._  
  
Sirius knew James was right, but he also knew he couldn’t help but take this personally. Sirius was certain that a ‘no’ now, would probably mean there wouldn’t be a yes later. Polite conversation in a corner shop aisle would likely never turn into raucous laughter at the pub. Shy smiles across the special offers stand, would likely never turn into more...  
  
At that moment the bell above the door rung out, and Remus himself made his entrance, the collar of his coat turned up against the wind and his hair plastered to his face from the rain.  
  
“Remus,” Sirius breathed elated. “Hi, Remus,” he said again louder.  
  
“Hi Sirius,” Remus turned seeming pleased to see Sirius shouting his name in the quiet shop.  
  
Sirius’s stomach turned and he wished he had thought out what he was going to say. “Any plans for tomorrow?” he managed to garble out, straight to the point. Step one in his plan, light-hearted banter, had naturally been completely forgotten.  
  
“No,” said Remus calmly, which only made Sirius feel more anxious. “Do I ever?”  
  
“Yes well, I hoped you wouldn’t,” said Sirius. “Well, not that you didn’t have plans for Christmas… but that you might be free…”  
  
“Go on,” said Remus, as Sirius’s words had seemed to come to a halt.  
  
“Well,” Sirius took a deep breath and continued. “My friends you see, James and Lily. They are having me over for Christmas dinner tomorrow and they said I could bring someone along. And well I hoped… if you want to I mean. Would you like to come with me?”  
  
Remus looked slightly taken aback. “Are you sure that would be ok?” he added after a moment’s hesitation.   
  
“Yes,” said Sirius immediately. “It would be perfect, brilliant even.”  
  
“It would be nice,” said Remus although he looked no less worried.   
  
“So you’ll come?” asked Sirius who looked as if he was about to explode.  
  
“Yes, if you are sure,” said Remus smiling widely.  
  
“I am very sure,” said Sirius bouncing ever so slightly with the excitement. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah? Meet outside here at noon? It’s only around the corner...”   
  
“Sure,” said Remus. “Should I bring anything or…?”  
  
“No,” interrupted Sirius very definitely. “I’ve got it,” he said lifting the bottle of wine he had selected earlier purely based on alcohol content. “I should probably pay for this,” he said as he turned towards the counter. “See you tomorrow Remus!”  
  
“Yes,” replied Remus, still stood dumbstruck at the same place Sirius had left him. It took him several minutes to process what had just happened. “Hey Sirius,” he managed to call out just as Sirius reached the exit.  
  
“Yes?” Sirius turned around looking expectant.  
  
“Merry Christmas,” Remus beamed.  
  
“Merry Christmas,” Sirius shouted back, happily waving goodbye.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Kudos and comments are always appreciated or come say hi over on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/wild-and-flammable)!


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